On hearing about the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope, friends and family members formed Team Yaya as a surefire way of showing support for a woman who touched their hearts.

2015 Walk in Calgary

Still raw with the news, team members gathered at local Walks in both Calgary and Vancouver feeling as though they were in a fog, unsure about what was ahead. Yaya Jean had started chemo earlier that week and was unable to join them in person.

“I could hardly bear to leave her side that morning,” recalls Jean Storey. “When ovarian cancer came into our lives, it was like being teleported to a foreign land with a foreign language. But the Walk was like our translator. It was our beacon of light.”

At the Walk, team members came face to face with other women who were living with the disease. Most were sporting teal shirts in a show of solidarity and sisterhood. Their examples offered Team Yaya much needed encouragement as they came to realize that people can make it through the journey with ovarian cancer.

Team Yaya returned to the Walk the next year, again Yaya Jean didn’t feel well enough to attend. But this year will be different.

Cancer-free for 15 months, Yaya Jean is determined to join other survivors at the starting line of this year’s Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope.

Yaya Jean and Jean Storey

“Mom has had her eye on this goal for two years now,” says Jean Storey, who was among the first to register for the 2017 Walk. “She’ll be absolutely elated to stand with her fellow survivors and our team will be right behind her -- bound in our gratitude for this fortunate outcome.”

“While I may have been bawling my eyes out during our first Walk. This year, I’ll only have tears of joy,” she continues. “Our commitment to the Walk continues to grow strong because all women with ovarian cancer deserve to have positive stories like ours.”

Have the ladyballs to take action at the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope this September. Your participation helps ensure that more women with ovarian cancer live better, fuller and longer lives. Register today.

Yaya Jean and Jean Storey show their ladyballs

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